الأربعاء، 11 سبتمبر 2013

By Activestills

At one of
the most consistently peaceful weekly demonstrations against the Israeli
occupation, soldiers arrest a Palestinian activist in front of his
three-year-old twin sons.

Israeli
forces arrest Mohammad Brijiah on the pretext that he was "behaving
violently" against the soldiers at a weekly demonstration against the
Israeli separation barrier, Al Ma’sara, West Bank, September 6, 2013.
(photo: Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org)

Friday, September 6, Israeli forces arrested Palestinian activist
Mohammad Brijiah at the weekly demonstration against the separation wall
in the West Bank village of Al Ma’sara. Brijiah’s twin three-year-old
sons , who were present at the demonstration, watched helplessly as
soldiers took their father away. He will be held until the morning of
Sunday, September 8 when he will face a military court hearing at Gush
Etzion prison.
As is usual in this weekly demonstration, members of the Al Ma’sara
community, accompanied by Israeli and international solidarity
activists, marched from their village toward agricultural lands that
will be cut off if the separation barrier is built as planned. The
demonstration in Al Ma’sara, though modest in size, is one of the most
consistently peaceful demonstrations in the West Bank, and children and
families often participate. Episodes of stone-throwing are extremely
rare, though Israeli forces still occasionally respond to the march with
sounds bombs, tear gas, and as this day, arrests of activists. This
week, as about 30 marchers entered the main road from the village,
soldiers blocked their path and pushed them back using riot shields.
Brijiah verbally confronted soldiers who responded by hitting him with
their shields. When Brijiah pushed back against the shields, he was
arrested.According to Maan News,
an Israeli military spokesperson claimed that Brijiah was taken into
custody because he was "behaving violently" toward soldiers. The
spokesperson also claimed that Israeli forces fired riot dispersal
means, which this reporter observed firsthand was simply untrue on this
particular day. It would seem that the military felt the need to
exaggerate the actions of its own forces as well as Brijiah’s behavior
in order to justify their actions. Brijiah’s arrest follows a pattern of
arrests and harassment of nonviolent protesters by the Israeli military.

Palestinian
activist Mohammad Brijiah and his twin three-year-old sons confront
Israeli forces blocking the road from their West Bank village of Al
Ma’sara during a weekly demonstration against the separation barrier,
September 6, 2013. If built as planned, the wall would cut off the
village from its agricultural lands.

Mohammad
Brijiah verbally confronts the Israeli soldiers blocking the path of
the weekly march in the West Bank village of Al Ma’sara, September 6,
2013. (photo: Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org)

Israeli
soldiers hit Mohammad Brijiah with their riot shields during the weekly
demonstration against the separation barrier in Al Ma’sara, West Bank,
September 6, 2013. (photo: Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org)

Mohammad
Brijiah pushes back against the riot shields that Israeli soldiers were
using to hit him, Al Ma’sara, West Bank, September 6, 2013. (photo:
Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org)

A
Palestinian youth films as Israeli forces take Mohammad Brijiah into
custody at the weekly demonstration in Al Ma’sara, West Bank, September
6, 2013. (photo: Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org)

Yarob
Brijiah, age 3, remains with family members at the demonstration after
his father Mohammad was arrested by Israeli forces, Al Ma’sara, West
Bank, September 6, 2013. (photo: Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org)